t'KATEROMOnrHA MEYERI. 59 



diameter. Surface smooth all over. The one point specially 

 worthy of note was the relative shortness of the stalk bearing 

 the elongate sacciform body. 



The second specimen (Sei. Coll. Mus. No. 364) is the one 

 shown in PI. IV., fig. 1. Locality, Outside Okinose by the Iwado- 

 line ; 429 m. (235 fms.). Total height 115 mm., of which about 

 55 mm. belong to the stalk. This is of uneven contour, measur- 

 ing 9-13 mm. across. In the lower two-thirds of its length it 

 is quite hard and close-textured owing to spicular ankylosis, 

 while the upper portion presents a longitudinally fibrous appear- 

 ance. The lower end is thickened into an irregular basal en- 

 largement, by means of which the sponge is fixed to the firm, 

 finely grained, tufaceous substratum. 



The bulging, cup-like body somewhat closes aljove but soon 

 Hares out at the simple-edged oscular rim. It is irregularly 

 roundisli in cross-section, with a diameter of about 50 nun. at 

 its middle. The osculum is 35-40 mm. in diameter. The 

 sponge-wall is thin and membranous at the rim but thiekens 

 below, attaining a thickness of 10-12 nnn. near the insertion of 

 the stalk. 



The smooth external surface, when seen under the lens or 

 even with the naked eye, shows the delicate and exceedingly 

 fine-meshed dermal layer, which is supported by a much coarser 

 hypodermal network composed of straight, but often interrupted, 

 streaks of tolerably uniform fineness and showing small angular 

 meshes, usually not exceeding half a millimeter in length of 

 sides (PI. IV., fig. 6). The hypodermal beams are finer than 

 those in either 61 ///. iuherosa or C. m. nigosa, and do not form 

 continuous strands of such length, which fact has its ground in 

 a certain difference in the spicular elements composing them. 



